This month our Member Spotlight is on Ron Foulks IPMS #4271.
Ron is a founding member of IPMS Gateway. During his years in IPMS Gateway he has been chapter president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and director. He was an integral part of the 1991 IPMS National Convention, running the contest at the National.
According to Ron he has been modeling since he was a kid. He began serious modeling around 1965. He was an accomplished modeler even back in that time winning awards in the Revell Model Car contests (remember those?). A fixture in IPMS, he has won many awards at the IPMS Regional and National levels as well as the Military Miniature Society of Illinois. Among his many award winning models, he is particularly proud of his USS Missouri and the Lusitania. Both of these masterpieces won 1st Place at the IPMS USA National Conventions in which they were entered.
Ron is now retired (for ten years), having been a tool & die maker specializing in plastics as his profession. His wife Phyllis, is usually with him as he has attended the various IPMS events through the years. He has three sons and 6 grandchildren.
Ron has varied interests. He enjoys military history, photography, genealogy and computers. Once he retired, Ron was a volunteer at the St. Louis Soldiers Memorial. There he aided in identifying, restoring and displaying many historical artifacts. A number of Ron’s award winning models have been displayed there as well.
Some little known tidbits about Ron. Many who have competed against Ron know him as a very skilled aircraft and ship modeler. Most don’t know that he is equally good at building armor and automotive subjects as well. Something that few modelers know that to power his airbrush, Ron used a common garden chemical spraying tank. Yep, the thing that you pump up and spray bug killer, etc. Most of us use compressors or CO2 tanks. When I met Ron in the mid 80s when I joined IPMS Gateway, I asked what air supply he used for his airbrush. Was a compressor or CO2 tank better. I was floored when he told me he used the garden sprayer. He said it was portable, easy to use and took up less room that the other things. He may not be using it any longer, but I know he did. Many of the long time members of IPMS Gateway who have visited his workshop have seen it.
Now you have gotten to know Ron Foulks…..a good man, a great modeler and an ambassador for modeling in general.
